I used a day’s holiday from work on Friday to have a cracking tour of South East Northumberland. During the course of the day I met a millionaire, nearly got trapped on an industrial estate and found a rare preserved bus. The day started with me catching Arriva Alexander Dennis Trident 7508 on the 9.14 X21 service from Newcastle. The bus left on time with only a few passengers on board. The journey was pleasant in the morning sunshine. On the way we passed Gosforth Academy which has recently purchased two new style Ford Transits. They are currently in all over white livery. The journey was uneventful and I spent most of it reading the paper.

I alighted at Bedlington Station and walked down to Cooper’s Tourmaster Travel garage near the Kitty Brewster Bridge. This was a pleasant 5-10 minute walk along a little used lane next to the railway line. I found the access road to the garage without any difficulty. The site has recently been extended into part of the adjacent stables. Mr Cooper was really friendly when I asked for permission to look around. He even offered to move vehicles so I could get better photos. There were 24 vehicles on site and I spent a good 15-20 minutes looking around the well kept premises. Many vehicles were Irizar bodied Scanias which looked very impressive. Two interesting finds were JJI2672 a 35 year old Plaxton bodied Bedford YMT which is still in service. This vehicle has been with the Cooper family for over 20 years. The other was WJI2799 a 1995 Plaxton bodied Dennis Dart formerly with Stagecoach (32075). This is used on schools contracts. It was a real pleasure to look around this garage; the staff were all friendly and polite. I thanked them and made my way back to Bedlington Station in a good mood.

My next bus was another Arriva Trident 7507 working the late running X21 service. This was a short journey as I got off at the Barrington Arms in Stakeford. From here I walked to Sleekburn. On the way I was able to photograph GNE 6117 working the new 434 service to Ashington. It was wearing an all over red livery. After about a mile walk I came to West Sleekburn Industrial Estate. I was looking for Howard Snaith’s operating centre which has a licence for 20 vehicles. After a bit of searching, I found the garage on a traveller’s site. I’ve always found travellers friendly and approachable. They had no objection to me taking photos of the buses but warned me to watch out for Mr Snaith who was operating a small tractor.

Howard Snaith started with a single Ford Transit and with his family has built one of the North East’s largest independent bus and coach operators. Although the family recently lost their public bus services and schools contracts with Northumberland County Council they retain a substantial fleet for private hire and contract work. The most recent accounts for Howard Snaith Limited show the company had net assets of £1.66 million. Mr Snaith and his family own all the shares in the company. He was laying ballast on the site and had no objection to me looking round and photographing the 7 vehicles present. These comprised Volvo, Mercedes and Ford vehicles. Mr Snaith is in his 80s now and must possess a very strong work ethic.

My next target was Garfield Executive Travel Limited. This company is located on the Ferguson West Industrial Estate which is roughly half a mile from Snaith’s compound. I had no issues walking onto the industrial estate and found the Garfield garage without any difficulty. New here is a very smart Mercedes Sprinter, LX64AWJ. Unfortunately there was no one around at the garage. I therefore started to walk back to the estate entrance. At this point to my horror the main gates began to close. They must have been on a timing mechanism as a van was leaving the estate as I entered. I did not relish the thought of being trapped on an apparently empty industrial estate miles from anywhere. So I put on a sprint and just made it through the gates. I then waited for someone to come and query what I was doing on the estate. However no-one turned up, so I made my way to the Ferguson East Industrial Estate.

This is the home of Tatum (S & A Travel) who have a small fleet of minibuses. I approached the entrance to this estate which has a gatehouse. I wanted to explain the situation which had just occurred on the West Industrial Estate. However again there was no-one about and the estate had an open electric gate. I did not want to be potentially trapped again so decided to give S & A Travel a miss. I could see that they had a number of LDVs parked outside their garage. From here I walked over the road bridge across the River Wansbeck. This was a nice walk and I got some good pictures of the railway bridge in the distance.

My next stop was the garage of Balsdon (GB Travel) located in North Seaton. I found this garage after asking locals for directions. The last time I tried looking for it I was given directions to an empty unit. Mr Balsdon has a fleet of 5 vehicles and shares the operating centre with a branch of the Craiggs family. The wider Craiggs family used to run large coach company H E Craiggs (Craiggs of Amble) which is no longer trading. They currently trade as Craiggs Travel and have a fleet of 5 vehicles. An interesting vehicle present was F258RJX a 26 year old Van Hool bodied DAF. This vehicle belongs to Craiggs but is now withdrawn from service. The Craiggs also have vehicles parked opposite the Vulcan Garage at Bedlington. Now with Craiggs is former Priory Coaches 109 (E406SEL). It’s currently parked up at Bedlington.

I then took a short walk to Ashington Ambulance Station, there are a number of Patient Transport minibuses based here and I was able to spot quite a few from the road outside. PSV refurbishment company Thorntons have their entrance close to the Ambulance Station. On my way to the Ambulance Station I passed a training facility run by Northumberland County Council. Present here were 3 Ford Transits, two of which are recent purchases with new style bodywork. From here I walked to the Elephant pub and caught my next bus. This was Arriva 7504 on the 12.10 X21 service. I only had to wait a couple of minutes until it arrived. I took this bus on the short journey to Ashington’s messy bus station.

At the bus station was a young guy taking photos; he was joined by a middle aged bloke. I think one of these persons may have been forum member Tommy. They walked down the bus station and I went to find somewhere to sit and have my packed lunch. I found a wall which gave a good view of the main road through Ashington town centre and had a nice relaxed dinner. Afterward I went down to the Arriva depot, there unsurprisingly was not much stock given the time of day. Interesting vehicles present were DAF trainer 9990 and two Darts which are withdrawn from service. Community Bus operator Watbus on the Wansbeck Business Centre was my next objective. They had 7 vehicles parked outside their office comprising mainly Ford Transits. I was able to get some good photos of their fleet. A recent purchase is new style Transit BV65YZA which suits the Watbus livery of green vinyls on a white background well. I then took a slow walk back to the town centre and had a look in the shops on Ashington’s main street.

Alexander bodied Dart 1791 was my next bus. This vehicle has transferred up from Arriva’s Darlington depot and was working the number 1 to Blyth. The bus was 12 minutes late leaving Ashington bus station. I had to listen to an obnoxious little girl aged about 6 demanding things from her mother for most of the journey. Her mother must have the patience of a saint to put up with her constant whining. By the time we got to Cowpen I could not stand any more. So I got off the bus early and decided to walk. Wansbeck CVS was my first port of call in Blyth. They run a single Mercedes minibus under the fleetname Cowpen Friendship Club from a base on Briardale Road. Next I passed the TA Centre with a small number of Ford Transits present.

Morpeth Road Primary School was my next objective. This is operated by the Blyth Quays Trust. The trust has a fleet of 3 Ford Transit minibuses on Section 19 Permits which are securely parked next to the road that runs past the school. Two vehicles are in grey livery, the other is in all over white. From here Phoenix Travel’s main garage is about a 5 minute walk away. There were 15 vehicles present in Phoenix’s yard and the adjacent car park. Many of the vehicles were midibuses running on taxi plates. There was only a single decker, KV02URY. Phoenix do not allow enthusiasts to visit their yard but I was able to spot all the vehicles within through the fence.

I then walked into the town centre, via Blyth Hospital where a small number of patient transport minibuses were waiting for work. Arriva’s garage was my next stop; I was able to get some OK photos from the path that runs around the depot perimeter. I also got some good photos in the bus station. I decided to visit Blyth Star Enterprises Limited on Ridley Street. This charity runs a single Transit on a Section 19 Permit. Next was Blyth Valley Disabled Forum Limited on Stanley Street. This is another charitable Section 19 operator, present was Mercedes Sprinter NK04XUU formerly with Northumberland County Council.

Whilst photographing at the bus station Arriva Dennis Dart 1314 pulled in working the X7. This vehicle was transferred from Darlington’s Faverdale depot. I decided to take this service (which was the 15:20) to Seaton Deleval. This was a good journey; the ride along the coast road was lovely. There were no spoilt children and no one shat themselves. Seaton Deleval Hall the former home of the Deleval family is really spectacular to look at. The mansion was recently purchased by the National Trust and is open to the public. I understand members of the ancient Deleval family still own a large amount of farmland and timber plantations in the vicinity. I left the X7 at Double Row on the outskirts of Seaton Deleval. Here I visited the premises of Lifeline Medical Transport Services Limited. This private ambulance company owns a number of Renault Masters which are used for patient transport services. They used to be based in Blyth but their former depot is now demolished. I then walked to Western Avenue in Seaton Deleval.

Here is situated the home of Mr Robertson who runs Astley Coaches. I’d last visited this location in the mid 1990’s when the operator had a single minibus. Parked on Mr Robertson’s drive was a magnificent Leyland PS1 dating from 1948. Its registration is JAX354 and its wears a yellow Stevenson’s livery. It was a real surprise and pleasure to find such a rare and well preserved vehicle. It was a short walk from here to Westbourne Terrace. The garage here used to be the home of independent bus operator Hunters. They used to run a fleet of Leyland Atlanteans on a service from North Shields to Cramlington. There were taken over by Northumbria Motor Services (now Arriva) in the 1990s. The garage is now the operating centre of Richardson (Cookes Coaches) however no vehicles were present at the time of my visit.

Near to the garage I caught Arriva Wrightbus 7601 on the 16:12 X7 service. This was a short journey which was marred due to a guy talking to himself. He informed himself what he was going to do. For example he said “I’ll press the bell” and then pressed it. Next he said “I’ll go down the stairs” and off he went down them. I got off this bus at Seghill and looked for the Borderline Travel garage on Station Road. This operation would now appear to be in the hands of a new owner, Bowman Travel Limited. Try as I may I was unable to locate the garage despite walking back and forth along Station Road. Undeterred I headed to the new Atkinson House School. This council operated school runs a single Transit on a Section 19 Permit. Also spotted in Segill was Sprinter RRK598 which is operated by owner Mr Warwick. He is now using the fleetname Coast Travel and operates out of the Adamson’s Coaches depot at Cramlington.

My final bus of the day was Wrightbus 7803 on the late running 16:49 X7. I took this very busy service back to the Haymarket. It picked up a heavy loading at the industrial parks North of Benton. The bus was pretty much full when it reached Haymarket. The journey passed OK and I spent most of it looking out the window at the setting sun. As we arrived at Haymarket PCL Travel’s Mercedes Benz RIL5885 passed on the Otterburn service driven by it’s owner Mr Cowell.

The day had been a really good one apart from the incident with the gates. Again I thought the Arriva day ticket gave great value for money. I will definitely visit this area again as there is such a wide variety of vehicles and operators to see. The coastal scenery is also pretty good. For my next trip I’m going to try and visit minibus operator Milburns at Birtley on Tyne. I’m going to have to dig out a map and compass for this as its well out in the sticks deep in rural Northumberland!

Hope you enjoyed the review.

Charles